16th May 2007

16th May 2007. This is the 2nd time for Mr. Editor as well and Gan and Kimmy to ‘Walk Walk Search Eat’. This time, a different group of people followed on this excursion. Our destination. Kuala Selangor. Kuala Selangor is Nicole’s hometown and we are grateful that she brought 8 of us there. These are the people who made up this group of ‘pemburu makan’.

Elles sont Nicole, Annie, Roslyn, Francisca aka Cheeka et Kimmy. Ils sont Zen, Adam, Shawn et Gan.

So, how did we get to Kuala Selangor? We went in 3 cars. A Proton Wira, a Perodua Kancil and Perodua Kelisa. Sorry, no luxury of space for anyone this time. Anyway, it was a rather long drive to Kuala Selangor. If you’re wondering where this fishing village is, it is after Klang. Pretty far. About 40 minutes drive from Leisure Commerce Square. Picture this. Modified Wira vs Kancil & Kelisa = Slow and boring for driver behind the wheel of the Wira. So what he does…he speeds off way in front of the Kancil and Kelisa as though he knows the way which eventually makes him slow down and wait for the rest. After 40 minutes of tailgating each other, we were more or less on the main road of Klang to Kuala Selangor. It is along this long road that we made our 1st stop. This is a corner coffee shop in front of a housing area. So what did have here? ‘Woo Kok’. Yam Puff in English.

Now, this is one of the best yam puffs I have ever eaten. It is stuffed with BBQ chicken like a ‘Char Siew Pau’. The reason I say this is a good yam puff is because it is made with pure yam. No flour. What you get is a light, non-sticky, non-starchy puff. Excellent!

In the same coffee shop, we came across this rather...uhmm…interesting list of items served. I’ve heard of White Coffee before but not the other two. Green Coffee anyone? No. How about Blue Coffee then? I guess it is a product still in the making because there is no price.

Along the same stretch of long road we made a turning to one of Kuala Selangor’s beaches.

Next off, we did some sightseeing from higher grounds. We made our way to Bukit Malawati. As we slowly climbed up the hill with all 3 cars, we made it to the landing and guess what we were greeted by. Not 1, not 2, not 3 either but scores of monkeys!! DO NOT stand under the tree as the monkeys are prone to piss and shit on you. Just be careful. As for the canons, it is evidence that Bukit Malawati was a fort during the times of war with the Dutch from around 1780s – 1870s.

On the way down, everyone needed to quench their thirst. We found a small stall selling coconuts, pandan and lotus flowers. We had a coconut each. Unfortunately the day was hot and the coconuts were rather warm. It would have been more refreshing if they were cold. It was almost time for us to have our main meal. But before that, we went to one of the restaurants to purchase our local sea ‘escargot’. They amount we bought was more than we could handle. Eaten alone, the sea snails are rather bland and not very appetizing. The sea snails came with chilli sauce which you mix with crushed peanuts. With this, the snails taste much better. Now, in Kuala Selangor, if you eat such shell fish and you’re nearby the sea, don’t be afraid to throw the shells back into the water. It’s common practice in this village. We all caught on after we saw a small boy do it. We brought the ‘escargots’ to the restaurant where we had our dinner. For 9 people, I think we ordered just enough. Of course when you’re in a fishing village, you would eat seafood. Therefore, we ordered ‘Kam Heong’ style Lala, prawns cooked with chives, ginger and garlic as well as ‘Lai Liu Har’ aka Soft Shell Prawn, cooked in the same style. This prawn is one of the species of the langoustine (the 'prawn' that Mr. Bean ate in his latest movie). Other than that, we also had Crab Meat and Tofu served in Superior Broth and 2 types of crab. We ordered Sweet and Sour crab and Salted Egg crab. . The soup was heavenly, just like shark’s fin soup. In any seafood restaurant, the best accompaniment for the crabs is the ‘Chow Mantou’. Deep fried buns. This is especially when your crabs comes with lots of sauce like the sweet and sour crab. Not forgetting, we also had steamed ‘Siek Pann’ which is known as garoupa en Anglais. Later, we finished our meal with a serving of ‘Black Seafood Noodles’. It is the normal hokkien ‘Orr Mee’ with shellfish like clams and lala. Great Food. Great People. This is Adam the Mauritian guy who's teaching us the right way to balance objects on your head. After such a wonderful dinner, we adjourned to Nicole’s house to have some…palate cleansers. Our journey was far from over. At her house we had some green bean ice lollies and chilled logan and lychee with syrup. Having let our tummies rest for a while, we were soon on our way to check out another place. Round 2! When we arrived at the place, we couldn’t believe the place we were going to eat at. Somewhere along Simpang Tiga Jeram, there was an old house which resembled an old wooden shack which served simple but tasty food. Here, we just had a few dishes. 1. Deep fried batter Squid with squid egg. 2. Rice wine Chicken. 3. Claypot vegetables. 4. ‘Kung Po’ style frog legs. (Hmm, frog legs…again) 5. Stir fried lettuce with soy sauce and onion oil.

The rice wine chicken was fantastic. The flavors of the dish were just wonderful. The frog legs were more enjoyable to eat than our previous expedition in Kepong. Not as spicy though.

Finally, surprisingly even after eating so much we all managed to walk to our cars perfectly fine. We said ‘au revoir’ to each other and went our separate ways. Alors, c’est tous pour cette fois de ‘Marche-Marche Chercher Manger’.